Go Green! Planning Your Eco-Friendly Wedding

Every year we get more and more new favors, and this year we couldn’t help but notice that eco-friendly wedding favors are becoming more and more popular. I personally love eco-friendly favors, because majority of them are practical…and so cute! Here at our Little Things office, I encourage everyone to be eco-conscious—I insist on recycling, try not to waste a lot of paper or packaging materials, and recently even purchased recycled post its! (We use so many of them anyway.) If you even look at my favorite favors section, it says that I love eco-friendly favors, and even features a couple of my favorites, including this “Write from my Heart” Eco-Friendly Note Pad. I couldn’t have been more thrilled to decorate our display windows this month, because we decided on an eco-friendly theme. And yes, they came out fantastic, if I do say so myself. The centerpiece is a green lime tree, set on a natural earth tone table cloth. The runner is a sort of bamboo material, and green napkins are folded fan style on the plates. Each place setting is adorned with green topiary place card holders that incorporate with the look of the centerpiece, leaf votive tea light holders, and theseTree Design Wooden Favor Boxes, which I also love. Surrounding the table setting are a number of other eco-friendly favors, mostly in brown or green hues to match the color scheme. If you walk by the window you’ll see a variety of bird nests, wooden birdhouses, natural fans, seed favors, and more. These favors aren’t just cute, but they’re good for the environment, too.

There are a number of other ways to really go green with an eco-friendly wedding besides your favors. For starters, your invitations are the first thing you’re going to choose. Not only can you have them printed on recycled paper, but you can have them eco-friendly right down to the ink: environmentally friendly ink is usually soy-based. Consider recycled paper for your other paper goods, too: place cards, save the dates, thank you cards, programs, and possibly even your menu—which can feature organic food, and even be served on organic dinnerware. There are also plenty of organic wines to sample and choose from, too.

Even though flowers technically do grow in the ground, cut flowers are actually very toxic. Luckily, simply by some researching, you’ll be able to find organic floral suppliers. Another option is growing your own flowers, or maybe choosing greenery instead—that will really coordinate with your “green” wedding! Your attire can be eco-friendly too: if you’re looking for a light, summery dress to wear at your beach themed wedding, organic cotton is a great choice. The hot weather isn’t for everyone, though, so if your event takes place in a cooler season, cotton may be a little too thin. Besides cotton, other organic fabric can include hemp or bamboo. Plus, if you’re looking for colors for your bridesmaids’ dresses, you can always choose dresses made with low-impact/vegetable dye. With a little bit of research, you can also find eco-friendly wedding bands. Mining, whether it is for gold or other gems, is actually very destructive. So, another great idea is to favor some hand-me-downs. If you don’t have someone to pass a ring along to you, shop around at thrift shops for older, antique rings. You’d be surprised at the quality after a little TLC. Not only will the rings have a vintage feel and look, but they’ll have a little more of a sentimental background.

I hope this article inspires all of you brides-to-be to consider an eco-friendly wedding, or maybe just Eco-FriendlyWedding Favors. Happy Monday!

Erica is an 11 year veteran of the wedding industry and is the owner and founder of LittleThingsFavors.com.Her advice has been featured in the books: How To Plan Your Wedding and Enjoy It! Experienced Wedding Professionals Share Their Secrets and Planet Wedding.Follow her on Google +